I’m back home, and am still trying to catch up with the rest of my life. But, in case you haven’t heard, mein Schatz ran an amazingly fast marathon last week in Berlin. Three hours, ten minutes! Which was what he was training for, and which qualifies him for the Boston Marathon. A round of applause for the super-athlete, please.

Several of his good friends from all around Germany came into Berlin for the race, and it was quite a special event to have them all together in one place. His best friend, who came and ran the NYC Marathon a couple years ago, photographed the whole event and took some amazing shots that you can check out here.

We caught him at about the 19-mile mark — thanks to everyone’s navigational skills, knowledge of the Berlin subway system, and of course, the Bert & Ernie helium balloon — and mein Schatz was looking fresh as a daisy as he sped past us and was right on time. Then we headed towards the Brandenburg Gate for the finish, and were able to catch him speeding by — though he was too focused on getting across that finish line to look for us.

We caught up with him about an hour later after he made his way through the finisher’s area, and then all went out for a celebratory brunch. A very successful (even if quite difficult) race. Congratulations again mein Schatz!

There will be photos and a post to come about the rest of my travels soon.